Grayson's Top Item: Save Esh

Keeping open the doors of Eastern State Hospital will be Del. George Grayson's No. 1 priority during the upcoming General Assembly session.

Fighting to save the mental hospital has become sort of a habit for the James City County Democrat who has served in the House of Delegates for all but one year in the past quarter of a century.

"We have done battle with governors Democrat and Republican," he said. "But this is the most serious challenge yet."

Gov. Jim Gilmore has proposed shutting down the James City County facility over the next six years. The long-term, most seriously ill patients would be transferred to another facility, while most others would be treated at community-based hospitals around Hampton Roads.

Officials in his administration say it would save money and allow many patients to get treatment closer to home.

About 500 patients pass through ESH each year. Grayson sees them and the state's other mental health facilities as victims of Gilmore's pride and joy.

"The administration is willing to sacrifice the most vulnerable in our society to cut the car tax," Grayson said.

ESH can be closed only with the blessing of the General Assembly, which put that provision in state law last year in an effort to keep the hospital open at least another year.

"We're going to fight like crazy to keep it open," Grayson said.

The 45-day session, which begins Jan. 10, will likely see Grayson jump-starting some of his other familiar causes, such as protecting consumers from pesky telemarketers and giving James City County police the authority to monitor intersections with video cameras. But he's not sure yet about the latter - known in Richmond as "photo red" because the cameras would be designed to catch "red-light runners" - since Gilmore vetoed the idea last year.

Another initiative Grayson is considering crusading for this year would require the state to pay all of its employees at least a "living wage." The state's lowest paid workers earn $12,000 a year, he said.

"We need to take care of our state employees who mop our floors, clean our bathrooms, cut our grass - who do some of the hardest work," he said.

But in a tight budget year, the idea is a long shot, Grayson concedes. A pay raise at the bottom of the pay scale would likely send a ripple through the entire pay scale out of fairness to all state employees.

Q&A

What three issues that you can affect as a lawmaker do you think are most important to the constituents in your House district? Saving Eastern State Hospital, increase spending for public schools and higher education and give localities more authority to control development.

What single issue do you think is likely to draw the most attention of lawmakers and Gov. Jim Gilmore's administration during the coming session? The state budget.

Given the slower than anticipated growth in state revenues, do you think the state should stick with its five-year schedule to phase out the car tax? Would you use money from the tobacco settlement, as Gilmore proposed, to help pay for tax relief?

The economic slowdown argues strongly for delaying the move to the next phase of the car-tax repeal. The governor's financial advisers have employed smoke and mirrors to concoct a reckless scheme to forge ahead with the repeal. Specifically, they would:

* Borrow against future revenues from the national settlement with cigarette companies, thus artificially swelling current revenues by almost $500 million.

* Cut the budgets of agencies as exemplified by the proposed closure of Eastern State Hospital.

* Sell bonds to generate another $250 million to renovate and construct buildings, which the state had planned to fund from current tax receipts.

* Allow local governments to reduce payments to the Virginia Retirement System - even though the VRS investment picture is uncertain - to free up dollars for a modest pay raise for teachers.

* Rashly assume that the state and national economy will bounce back next year when a new resident occupies the governor's mansion.

Virginia must return to sound financial practices.

George Grayson

Age: 62

Occupation: Professor at the College of William and Mary

Education: University of North Carolina (B.A.), Johns Hopkins University (M.A., Ph.D.), William and Mary law school (J.D.)

Began serving: 1984, also served in the House from 1974 to 1982.

Represents: 97th House District, which includes Williamsburg and James City County

How to reach him:

* In Williamsburg, 253-0553

* In Richmond, (804) 698-1097

* By e-mail: del_grayson@ house.state.va.us

Terry Scanlon can be reached at 247-7821 or by e- mail at tscanlon@dailypress.com